Belmont Stakes

[Man o Taz]

Brody's Cause
Creator
Destin
Exaggerator
Gun Runner
Lani
Nyquist
Outwork
Suddenbreakingnews

Another relatively small field...

[Raven]

The Belmont, with nine starters, is about average.
We might get another two from the Peter Pan

[Raven]

Governor Malibu will be my pick for the Belmont after his easy win tomorrow in the Peter Pan
But that's just me.

[Man o Taz]

I like Governor Malibu too even after his 2nd place finish. I think he gets the distance more than Unified.

I wonder if Zito sends his Peter Pan horse to the Belmont Stakes.

[Man o Taz]

Brody's Cause - 5 f in 1:01 8/32 on 5/22 at Churchill
Cherry Wine - showed his class finishing 2nd in the Preakness. Is the Belmont next for him?
Creator - 5 f in 1:02 at Churchill 24/35 5/23
Destin - 4 f in 48.22 at Belmont training  2/35 on 5/20
Exaggerator - He has committed. Let us cross our fingers.
Governor Malibu - looks like a nice horse for the field has not worked since the Peter Pan.
Gun Runner - Belmont or waiting for summer?
Lani - finished well in the Preakness Stakes
Nyquist? - spiked a fever post Preakness
Outwork - has not worked since the Derby
Suddenbreakingnews - 5 furlongs in 1:00.60 9/35 at Churchill

[afleetphil]

Nyquist out of Belmont with fever. Damn.

[ElPrado]

Had to show a reason for him being beaten in the P, too.Must have been starting then. Artistic excuses have been known to appear for losses.

[afleetphil]

Can you say Doug O'Neill. Where have we seen this before. One day before the 2012 Belmont with I'll Have Another. Nyquist got beat fair and square in the Preakness. No excuses.

[Man o Taz]

I know many have issues with Doug O'Neill, but his team really wanted to go to the Belmont Stakes with Nyquist.

Doug O'Neill all along was very gracious post-Preakness.

He could have made excuses from the get go saying as some athletes do, Nyquist must not have been on his game to lose so we will have to check him out to see what happened, etc.

He did not. Instead he praised Exaggerator and his connections and said their plans were always to run in all three legs of the Triple Crown.

It is a shame he will not be there.

And he did get beat fair and square in the Preakness. Just like Angle Light and Onion beat Secretariat fair and square in the Wood and Whitney even though he was under the weather unknown to the connections in one race and known to them in the other. You enter the gate. You are ready to roll. No excuses unless you are fouled.

[afleetphil]

From my read. Nyquist spiked a fever AFTER the Preakness, so he was evidently healthy for that race.
Secretariat however had an absest tooth in the Wood and  actually had a fever when he raced Onion. So I do see a difference.

[Man o Taz]

From my read. Nyquist spiked a fever AFTER the Preakness, so he was evidently healthy for that race.
Secretariat however had an absest tooth in the Wood and  actually had a fever when he raced Onion. So I do see a difference.

Yes, but they did not discover Secretariat's abscess problem until post race. They did not know going into the race he had it.

And it is my understanding that spiking a fever is a symptom of a problem. The fact that it occurred within 48 hours means that he might have been experiencing the underlying ailment at Preakness post time since the fever is a symptom of a larger problem that often takes time to develop. :-)

[peeptoad]

Yes, but they did not discover Secretariat's abscess problem until post race. They did not know going into the race he had it.

And it is my understanding that spiking a fever is a symptom of a problem. The fact that it occurred within 48 hours means that he might have been experiencing the underlying ailment at Preakness post time since the fever is a symptom of a larger problem that often takes time to develop. :-)

Fevers can also be caused by stress, so it wasn't necessarily a larger problem. He could have been worn out from his racing schedule or from shipping. It's pretty common, although it could be an ailment of some sort as well. IMO they did the right thing by him anyway, regardless.

[curtis]

Yes, but they did not discover Secretariat's abscess problem until post race. They did not know going into the race he had it.

And it is my understanding that spiking a fever is a symptom of a problem. The fact that it occurred within 48 hours means that he might have been experiencing the underlying ailment at Preakness post time since the fever is a symptom of a larger problem that often takes time to develop. :-)

I think he was fine pre race. Nyquist also spiked a fever after the FL Derby.  Some horses--as are humans--are prone to do that after a max effort.  As long as it comes right back down, it's not a huge problem.  They could run Nyquist in the Belmont if they really wanted to, but why?  It's better safe than sorry.  It would be entertaining, though to see how bad Stupor--I mean Super--Mario could screw up a ride the whole way around Big Sandy.  Doug's too nice a guy in my opinion.  As long as he insists on using the Kevin Kriggers and the Mario Gutierrez's of the world on his top horses, he's going to lose some big races.

In Secretariat's case, they may not have diagnosed the exact problems until after the Wood and Whitney but he wasn't acting right going into either race.  The thought was he needed both races so he ran.  He worked poorly going into the Wood but there was no way in 1973 a horse was going to go to the Derby off of a 7f and a 1 mile prep.  He wasn't acting right just before the Whitney, but again, the plan was to make the Travers and horses ran more often in those days.  The illness he had at Saratoga also indirectly affected his Woodward.  But it was what it was, he ran and he lost.  Angle Light, Sham, Onion and Prove Out were better those days.  Further proof that if you run 'em enough they'll all get beat.

[peeptoad]

per DRF+ (so I won't post the article) Creator is definite for the Belmont, according to Asmussen.

[ElPrado]

That's actually a decent field for the Belmont. There aren't that many 3 year olds that would not try to kick the owner where it hurts if they understood how far they were expected to run in early June, with or without mud.
I still have no idea how some owners think their sprinters will get 12 furlongs.
Wait, yes I do. They get to be on TV!